"Give me Jesus"! Do you have Him in your life?

During my face-to-face devotional "wasted" time, I had this prayer after listening to the song titled, "Give me Jesus" and studying Matthew 25:31-46. This is an edited and adapted version. I write or type all my prayers. Here it is. May God "give you Jesus"--

"Lord, thank you for the song, “Give me JESUS”. That is my prayer for my family and for my church. Lord, help us to see Jesus in the hungry child, in the thirsty child, in the old sick lady, in the aids victim, in the poor person begging on the street, in the prisoners, in the naked, in the stranger who has no where to go, in the abnoxious person who annoys us, in the lost, in the one who has no friends and is socially ackward. Lord, I pray give me Jesus.

I will get these people in my life if I get Jesus in my life. I am wondering, how do we answer this question: “Is Jesus in your life; do you have Jesus in your life?” I wonder if Jesus IS IN our life IF the people of Matthew 25:31-46 are NOT in our life. Or, how much of Jesus is in our life if these people are not. Give me Jesus is a prayer of this: give me the poor…give me the needy…give me the sick…give me the naked…give me the prisoners…give me the one that no one else wants to be with…give me the hungry and the thirsty…that’s what Give me Jesus means does not it Lord? If I am wrong or partially right, help me to know. The song says, "In the morning when I rise, give me Jesus. When I am alone, give me Jesus. When I come to die, give me Jesus"….I wonder, in the morning, when I rise, give me the poor. When I am alone, give me the sick. When I come to die, give me the prisoners.

Jesus is a lot. He is all these people…he is prayer…he is the Kingdom of God…He is eternal life…the way the truth and the life…He is God’s SON and the Giver with the Father of the Holy Spirit. He is the Word of God. When we get Jesus or rather when Jesus gets us, we get all these things. I wonder, if we don’t have these things in our life if we EVEN have Jesus at all. What does it mean to have a PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP with Jesus if we don’t pray. If don’t read His word. If we don’t have a burden and a weekly ministry to the Matthew 25 people (He said, "Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine you did FOR ME (NIV)...(NLT) says "TO ME"-25:40)---IF that's NOT PERSONAL, what is? We are not “follow Me” Christians if we stay behind our walls and watch tv all day.

Make us “follow me” Christians not “inconvienced Christians.” Give my family Jesus for the needy. Give my pastor Jesus for his sermons. Give my school Jesus for teaching. Give my country Jesus for healing. Give our enemies Jesus for reconcilation. Give us Jesus!

Father, you have given us Jesus. I think of the widow in Luke 7:11-17. You gave her Jesus and you gave her her son back. Give me Jesus. You have given us Jesus. For God so loved the world that gave His one and only son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16). In the Name above all Names, this prayer raises above all hopes...to the Father in Heaven, Amen!

Serious about Jesus!

"---the serious living of this faith. I bear in my body scars from my service to Jesus." (Paul-"A Jesus is worth it" Christ Follower-from Galatians 6:17; MSG)

You and I say we are Christ followers. How serious are we about that statement? SERIOUSLY...how serious are you about Jesus, the Son of God, the Crucified and Risen Savior?

Paul was radically, "Jesus is worth it" serious about His Messiah! Today, as in his day, so many people are concerned and wrapped up in how we present ourselves on the "outside". We are so concerned about what everyone thinks about us as if they are gods. We live for the thoughts of people. We have become people pleasers. We want to be impressive. "I've got to be clean cut...tuck your shirt in...don't offend anyone...bla..bla...bla." Paul did not care about that dog manure. That's right, dog MANURE! The greek word is "skubala". Paul refered to it when he said the NIV word, "rubbish" (Philippians 3:8). He considered all things rubbish...dog excrement...skubala, in comparison to knowing Jesus and gaining Christ and being found in Him. Sorry if the word, "excrement", is too strong, too "offensive", not "user-friendly", "politically correct", "nice-boy Christianity", but we've got to start getting serious about Jesus! Christ is worth it!

I'm tired of all the "impressive" talk. I do this...I don't do that...then, on the inside of our souls, we don't pray; we don't read the Scripture; we don't share Jesus in normal conversation...we gossip and criticize...we're not "wasting" our lives on Jesus (Mark 14:1-11)...we're not Matthew 25:31-40 Christians...we skip over Luke 14:26-27... We look so "good" to society on the "outside", but on the "inside" of our homes, we don't love our wives, we neglect our children by letting them watch TV and play video games all day; forget about a family devotional time because we are "too busy" doing something obviously more important than taking care of our children's souls! We even do this on the "inside" of our church walls...which by the way, is where Christians are spending too much time...on the inside! We want to talk "impressive talk"..."We've got this many people coming on Sundays...baptism should be done by sprinkling...I don't think so, baptism should be done by dunking....we're right, you're wrong....we've got contemporary music...don't drink...don't smoke, don't dance...did you see how long his hair was...oh ma gosh....we've got to look "good" for our neighbors or people will not come...let's all be "do-gooders" and "people-pleasers...weeee!" Paul would tell us today...you guys are ridiculous! You are all concerned about looking good outwardly and not doing a darn thing about changing inwardly.

That's what he was telling the people in Galatians 6. They were all wrapped up circumsion. An "outward" mark. They didn't want to be persecuted for the Cross of Christ. Paul did. In fact, he was. Paul said, "You want an "outward" mark"; I'll give you an outward mark...I bear on my body the marks of Jesus (NIV)." Paul was so close...so identified with the Crucified One, that people beat him for it...he had the marks to show (see 2 Corinthians 11:23-29). Paul's readers would have identified these marks with slavery...slaves in the ancient world were sometimes "marked" with the insignia of their master as a sign of identification!

We may not receive marks from beatings like Paul, but have we been clinging so close to Christ that we are truly identified with Him? Are we clinging so close to Jesus, that His Crucified marks have become ours? Or are we more concerned about how nice our hair looks when we walk into our church and into our world? Paul did not care about his shirt being tucked in and freshly starched; He preached and lived to pleased God, not people, and was stoned for it. We need more preachers, more Christ followers like that today. Are we serious enough about bearing Jesus' marks, whatever that may mean for you and me...or have we put our cross' in our closets because it does not match our outfits?

Take a look at this parody...Christian or Christ Follower? You can copy and paste this address into your browser or scroll down and look under our 'Fusion' logo for the actual link for "Christian or Christ Follower?"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYdD-Qc7lbY&feature=related

Who Will You Serve?

Every morning, every day, we all decide who we will serve. It may be a conscious or unconscious decision, but either way, we will serve something or someone. Who will you serve today? The world or Christ? Your lust or love? Material possessions or gracious giving?

We want so much in life and sometimes we wonder why we are not achieving our goals. It all comes down to these types of decisions....Meditate on these Scriptures and quotes, then decide for yourself who you will serve today....

“But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.”- Joshua 24:15

Catch on fire with enthusiasm and people will come for miles to watch you burn.” John Wesley

“Give me ten men who hate nothing but sin and love nothing but God, and we’ll change the world.” John Wesley

"Ready To Die, Free To Live!" Jeff Nesbit

Psalm 116 (New Living Translation) 9 And so I walk in the Lord’s presence as I live here on earth!

The Prayer of Freedom

Is Jesus worth dying for? Our Shepherd has been guiding me through Acts 20 and 21 these past two days! He has been teaching me, through His Blessed Holy Spirit, some SOUL SHAKING realities. Let me share one with you now.

I call this the "Prayer of Freedom". It is not a prayer that Paul specifically prayed (he probably prayed something like this at sometime in his life, I'm sure). It is a statement that he made that I have shaped into a transforming prayer (rather, the Spirit of God has made into a prayer for me...there is no way I could pray this prayer without the Spirit's leading and you will see why). In Acts 20, Paul is 'compelled', I love that word, to go to Jerusalem for the task of testifying to the Gospel of God's extravagant generosity (His grace)! The Spirit of God has clearly told him that he will face hardship and prison in every city that he goes to...and here it comes...you ready? Paul says, "...I consider my life WORTH NOTHING to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me--the task of testifying to the gospel of God's grace. (Acts 20:24)" Paul's life was WORTH NOTHING to him...JESUS' life was WORTH EVERYTHING! Listen...it gets even MORE INTENSE from Paul...

In Acts 21, his buddies are "desperately urging" him not to go to Jerusalem. Listen to what Paul says. From what he says comes what I am calling, "The Prayer of Freedom"! Paul says in Acts 21:13.
"Why are you weeping and breaking my heart? I AM READY NOT ONLY TO BE BOUND, BUT ALSO TO DIE IN JERUSALEM FOR THE NAME OF THE LORD JESUS. (emphasis mine).

Here is the life lesson God's Spirit taught me to pray from this: If you want TRUE FREEDOM to live as a FULLY DEVOTED, SPIRIT FILLED, FATHER LOVING, LOST FISHING, RADICAL FOLLOWER of CHRIST, you've got to be READY to DIE for the Name of the LORD JESUS. If you are READY to DIE for Jesus Christ, then you are truly READY to LIVE for Him...no matter what happens. When you get to that point, or rather, when the Spirit of God gets you to that point in your life, you have TRUE FREEDOM TO LIVE! Stress will not be an issue. Worries will not be an isssue...negative thoughts and opinions will not be an issue! They are only issues in our lives when we are AFRAID to DIE. I could talk about this all night...let me cut to the chase...

Here is my prayer. I prayed this tonight..."Lord Jesus, make me ready to die for you." The only way we can get ready to die for Jesus is through serious, radical, prayer! I realize, or at least think I do, the magnitude of this prayer. This is not a comfortable prayer. But I have come to realize this fact: If Jesus does not consume me, the stresses of life will...when that happens, I am dead already. I don't want to live that way...it's miserable. BESIDES, JESUS IS WORTH IT! I would rather live being ready to die than to be dying wishing I would have lived!

Listen, we can honor God and bring glory to him in how we live AND in how we die. I want to be so ready to die for Jesus that nothing phases me in how I live for Him. You see, If I am ready to die for Jesus...I will preach the "heart cutting sermons" His Father calls me to preach without fear. I will do so with compassion but I will not back down. If I am ready to die for Jesus, I am ready to live for my wife and my daughter. I am FREE! If am ready to die for Jesus, time constraints, sicknesses, hardships, negative people will not phase me. If I am ready to die for Jesus, no one and nothing will intimidate me. I will live RECKLESSLY and in the words of my twin bro, "DANGEROUSLY FAITHFUL"! My only FEAR will be for GOD! My only hate will be for SIN! My only love will be for GOD, FAMILY, the CHURCH, and the LOST! I will not be worldy or consumeristic.

Now remember, to be ready to die for Jesus, you have to count YOUR life WORTH NOTHING and JESUS' life WORTH EVERYTHING... like Paul did (Acts 20:24). That's what the entire theme of this blog page is. JESUS IS WORTH IT! The "IT" must include our very life. JESUS IS WORTH MY LIFE! LORD JESUS, MAKE ME and ALL WHO READ THIS TO BE READY TO DIE FOR YOU! MAKE US READY TO DIE and FREE TO LIVE! That's the PRAYER of FREEDOM for you and for me. May it be for our families and for all of the Bride of Christ! In the Risen Jesus who was more than READY to die for us, AMEN!